News & Views

CAPITAL GAINS TAX – A NEW ERA BEGINS

In association with the Northamptonshire Chamber, Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants will be hosting a business seminar on Wednesday 18 June 2008.

The seminar ‘Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – A New Era Begins’ will be presented by Robert Jamieson a partner at Mercer & Hole and past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and will take place at The Heroes Suite, Northampton Saints, Franklin’s Gardens, Weedon Road, Northampton NN5 5BG at 17.15.

BOOKING INFORMATIONCAPITAL GAINS TAX A NEW ERA BEGINS:
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 @ 17:15 – 19:30 (followed by drinks and light snacks)

The Heroes Suite, Northampton Saints, Franklin’s Gardens, Weedon Road, Northampton NN5 5BG
If you would like to book your free space, please send an e-mail including your name, company name and contact details to Palak Patel at marketing@mercerhole.co.uk.

Mercer & Hole and The MK Chamber host a business seminar…

In conjunction with the MK Chamber, Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants hosted a business seminar for their professional contacts and MK Chamber members last Monday evening (07/04/08).

The seminar ‘Capital Gains Tax (CGT) – A New Era Begins’ was presented by Robert Jamieson a Partner at Mercer & Hole and past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and took place at the De Vere Venues, Harben House, Milton Keynes.

Robert’s presentation touched upon the key issues relating to CGT, which were amplified by the Chancellor’s announcement in October’s pre-Budget report where he abolished taper relief and indexation for capital gains tax purposes and brought in a flat rate of 18%. After much lobbying he subsequently acceded to demands for a relief to ameliorate some of the worst effects by announcing the introduction of the new “Entrepreneurs’ Relief”.

These changes have necessitated a radical re-think of tax planning strategies for the disposal of family and owner-managed businesses in particular. Robert’s presentation explained the ramifications of the proposals introduced by the Finance Bill 2008 and provided a number of tips and techniques to mitigate the impact of the new regime.

Mercer & Hole acquires Nightingale Associates

Mercer & Hole are delighted to announce the purchase of financial services business Nightingale Associates based in south-east London. The firm has acquired the bulk of the business which is currently run by Michael Lockyer. Mercer & Hole will form a limited liability partnership (M&H LLP), which will trade as Nightingale Associates.

This purchase will significantly expand and improve the financial services department at Mercer & Hole. Mercer & Hole’s existing financial services team in Milton Keynes will work alongside Michael’s current office staff in Bromley. Michael will maintain a minority stake in the LLP and be its Managing Partner, responsible for day-to-day operations.

Mercer & Hole announce the promotion of Helen McKie to Private Client Partner

Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce the promotion of Helen McKie to Private Client Partner.

Helen, who was promoted to Director of Mercer & Hole Trustees Limited (the firm’s Trust Corporation) in 2007, has rapidly progressed through the Mercer & Hole ranks, having joined the firm’s graduate training programme in July 2003. Her areas of specialism include private client work, with particular emphasis on high net worth individuals, their families, and dealing with the taxation, administration and accounting of their trusts.

Helen became a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation in July 2006, having achieved the highest mark in the specialist paper on the taxation of individuals, trusts and estates and was awarded the prestigious Institute’s Spofforth Medal, for the May 2006 sitting. Helen also has an Economics & Statistics degree from Exeter University.

Howard Wilkinson, Senior Partner at Mercer & Hole comments: “Helen’s rapid progression from graduate trainee to partner is testimony to the firm’s commitment to developing and nurturing talent from within and demonstrates the significant achievements Helen has made since joining us.”

For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.

Tax Plus - Budget 2008

Chancellor Alistair Darling delivered his first Budget on Wednesday 12 March 2008. An overview of the key measures announced are available in our Tax Plus – Budget 2008 special.

To find out more, please click here.

Tax Plus - January 2008

The Pre-Budget Report on 9 October 2007 made reference to changes to the remittance basis of taxation for non-UK domiciled individuals who are resident in the UK, and also to a change in the way that the days test for determining an individual’s residence status in the UK would be applied. Although an outline of the new provisions was set out in press notices at the time, we have only now received the specific detail.

To find out more, please click here.

Mercer & Hole’s partner Chris Laughton hits the news again!

You may recall that back in November we blogged on Chris Laughton’s interviews with BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live regarding Northern Rock. We are delighted to report that Accountancy Age have also tapped into Chris’s knowledge of insolvency issues and have added comment from him in their article titled: ‘Retailers protected from impact of trident ruling’.

Accountancy Age approached Chris having read his recent blog titled: ‘Will retail insolvencies start the year – again?’

To find out more about Insolvency Blog visit www.insolvencyblog.com where you can subscribe free!

Mercer & Hole add Transaction Services to their portfolio of business services

Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce that it has added Transaction Services to its portfolio of business services offerings. The Transaction Services team will be lead by Mercer & Hole Director, Julian Dobbin.

The world of business transactions (sometimes referred to as Corporate Finance) is a fast paced, stressful and often mysterious environment. Our aim is to ensure you receive the best possible advice and that each transaction is processed quickly and efficiently.

For further information regarding Mercer & Hole’s Transaction Services, please visit our website.

Mercer & Hole on Northern Rock - AT BBC RADIO FIVE LIVE

We talked about Northern Rock in September on our insolvency blog (Northern Rock – illiquid or insolvent?).

Chris Laughton, the Mercer & Hole insolvency partner who wrote the blog post, will be speaking about Northern Rock on BBC Radio Five Live’s Breakfast programme at 7.45am tomorrow, 20 November 2007.

Listen in to find out more – or visit www.insolvencyblog.com tomorrow!

STOP PRESS: New corporate tax partner David Mansell joins Mercer & Hole

Mercer & Hole is delighted to announce the arrival of a new corporate tax partner, David Mansell.

Based principally in the Northampton office, David will work closely with fellow corporate tax partner, Cathy Corns and the business tax specialists within Mercer & Hole’s tax department.

David is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, who specialises in working closely with business owners and managers and their companies and in finding tax efficient solutions to the issues facing them. He has a broad range of experience in advising on such matters as succession planning, employee retention and incentivisation, business acquisitions and disposals, business structuring, and company and group re-organisations.

Mercer & Hole is a modern firm but with roots established in 1905 by the founding partner, William Mercer.

The firm started by providing accountancy and tax services to a small client base but over time it has changed and developed as the client base has grown. Now with a broad portfolio of business clients spread across a range of industries and a strong base of private clients including over 600 trusts, Mercer & Hole has the expertise to address many varied aspects of a client’s financial affairs. The firm offers, for example, specialist Audit and Assurance services, Business Development, Corporation Tax and Due Diligence services, Taxation and Trust services, Financial Services and Recovery & Insolvency services.

For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.

...end stop press.

Tax Plus - Pre Budget Report 2007 special

Alistair Darling delivered his eagerly awaited first Pre Budget Report on Tuesday 9 October 2007. Amongst the highlights the Chancellor announced that growth forecasts would be cut, as would inheritance tax for couples and that there would be a crackdown on the non-domiciled rich.

To find out in more about how the Chancellor’s decisions might affect you, please here.

Pre-Budget Report 2007 - News Update

On October 9th 2007, Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, revealed his first term of office Pre-Budget Report 2007 and Comprehensive Spending review.

Sweeping changes became apparent from the outset and whilst some were to be expected, others caught the attention of the city and the business world alike.

Issues covered in the Pre-Budget Report 2007 included:-

Please click on any of the highlighted links above to take you directly to the latest reports.

Continued coverage can be maintained by subscribing to the relevant blogs here, both email and RSS feeds are available for your convenience.

Latest Mercer & Hole brochure

We are delighted to announce that the new Mercer & Hole firm brochure is now available and can be viewed online. The brochure offers a fresh new look which we believe will effectively communicate our message and services over the coming years.

Moreover, we have updated our partner profiles offering a brief synopsis of their areas of expertise and background, as well as highlighting their interests outside of the firm.

To download our pdf version (2mb) click here.

Jones v Garnett (Arctic Systems) - Victory for the taxpayer

Breaking News

Earlier than expected the House of Lords decided in favour of the taxpayer in this monumental case of Jones v. Garnett (Arctic Systems Ltd).

Mercer & Hole’s Tax Partner, Cathy Corns has already provided this report on her SME Plus Blog for further reading and include links to the decision reports and industry comment.

end. News Flash

Mercer & Hole tops female partner league table

The latest top 50 survey from Accountancy Age magazine puts Mercer & Hole at the top of the female partner league tables with almost a quarter of it’s partners being female compared to the UK firm average of 9.7%.

The Accountancy Age Top 50 and Accountancy magazine Top 60 survey also saw us move up the general league tables to positions 44 and 45 respectively as well as featuring in the Accountancy Age fastest growing mid-tier firms for Tax, Corporate Finance and Insolvency. So good news all round!

Overall the surveys show the accountancy industry as a whole to be in good health although firms are falling short in the quest for diversity. To find out how Mercer & Hole have fared in all areas of the surveys visit the sites linked above.

So what’s in store for us in 2008?

Well watch this space and maybe next year’s results will include even more good news.

Stop Press - New Private Client Partner arrives in London

Today we welcome Simon Tremblett as our new Private Client Partner. Simon will be based in our London office and he brings a wealth of specialist knowledge to the firm’s private client team.

Mercer & Hole is a modern firm but with roots established in 1905 by the founding partner, William Mercer.

The firm started by providing accountancy and tax services to a small client base but over time it has changed and developed as the client base has grown. Now with a broad portfolio of business clients spread across a range of industries and a strong base of private clients including over 600 trusts, Mercer & Hole has the expertise to address many varied aspects of a client’s financial affairs. The firm offers, for example, specialist Audit and Assurance services, Business Development, Corporation Tax and Due Diligence services, Taxation and Trust services, Financial Services and Recovery & Insolvency services.

For details of all the partners of Mercer & Hole please click here.

...end stop press.

Tax Plus - Summer edition out now

The majority of our clients will have received their personal copy of our latest version of Tax Plus in the last few days. However, if you have not received your copy and were expecting this please let us know. Alternately, download an electronic pdf version today here.

If you currently do not receive our free business publications then please take this opportunity to sign up here today and be the first on the list everytime.

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In April we produced our ever-popular Spring Bulletin. This is a long established publication and from the feedback we get it is well received by our clients and professional contacts.

This latest edition included articles on:

The Budget 2007 and
Our international Network – TIAG

It is our intenton for all future newsletters and bulletins to be sent direct to your inbox rather than by post. If you are not already on our mailing list and you would like to continue to read the latest news from Mercer & Hole either contact us at webmaster@mercerhole.co.uk or subscribe by email below.

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